Worldwar_ Upsetting The Balance Part 47

"We'll lay over in Gibraltar to recharge our batteries and pick up whatever fresh produce they have for us here," Commander Stansfield told Moishe. "Then we'll submerge again and go on into the Mediterranean to rendezvous with the vessel that will take you on to Palestine." He frowned "That's what the plan is, at any rate. The Lizards are strong around much of the Mediterranean. If they've been as vigorous attacking s.h.i.+ps there as elsewhere-"

"What do we do then?" Moishe asked.

Stansfield grimaced. "I don't precisely know. I gather your mission is of considerable importance: it must be, or it wouldn't have been laid on. But I've neither fuel nor supplies to take you there, I'm afraid, and I don't really know where I should acquire more. Here, possibly, though I should have to get authority from London first. Let us hope it does not come to that."

"Yes," Moishe said. "Let us."

He and his family stretched their legs on the deck of the Seanymph Seanymph a few times while she resupplied. The sun beat down on them with a vigor it seldom found in summer in more northerly climes. Like those of the sailors, their skins were fish-belly pale. Before long, they began to turn pink. a few times while she resupplied. The sun beat down on them with a vigor it seldom found in summer in more northerly climes. Like those of the sailors, their skins were fish-belly pale. Before long, they began to turn pink.

The Germans and Italians had bombed Gibraltar, back when the war was a merely human affair. The Lizards had bombed it since, more persistently and more precisely. Nonetheless, it remained in British hands. No great wars.h.i.+ps used the harbor, as they had in earlier days, but Moishe spotted a couple of other submarines. One looked considerably different in lines from the Seanymph. Seanymph. He wondered if it was even a British boat. Could the Axis powers be using a harbor they'd tried to destroy? He wondered if it was even a British boat. Could the Axis powers be using a harbor they'd tried to destroy?

When the crew dogged the hatches, Moishe felt a pang, as if he were being dragged unwilling into a cave. After the spirited Mediterranean sun, the dim interior lamps seemed particularly distressing. A couple of hours later, though, he'd got used to the orange twilight once more.

Time crawled on. The sailors were all either asleep or busy keeping the submarine running. Moishe had slept as much as he could, and he was useless on the boat. That left him as bored as he'd ever been in his life. In the bunker under the Warsaw ghetto flats, he'd pa.s.sed a lot of time making love with Rivka. He couldn't do that here.

Keeping Reuven out of mischief helped occupy him. His son was every bit as bored as he was, and couldn't understand why he wasn't allowed to go out and get under people's feet "It's not fair!" he said, again and again. He was probably right, but not right enough to be turned loose.

The Seanymph Seanymph sailed east, altogether cut off from the outside world. Moishe wondered if traveling between worlds in a Lizard s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p was anything like this. If it was, he pitied the Lizards. They had to endure it for a lot longer than mere hours. sailed east, altogether cut off from the outside world. Moishe wondered if traveling between worlds in a Lizard s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p was anything like this. If it was, he pitied the Lizards. They had to endure it for a lot longer than mere hours.

When the submarine surfaced, it was black night outside. That made transferring Moishe and his family safer, but also harder. "Like trying to find a black cat in a coal cellar at midnight," Commander Stansfield grumbled. "And we're not even certain the cat is here."

"How well can you find where you are going when this s.h.i.+p is underwater?" Russie asked.

"Boat," Stansfield corrected absently. "That is the rub, of course. If we're a couple-or more than a couple-of miles from where we ought to be, we might as well have sailed to Colorado." He smiled, as if at some remembered joke. Whatever it was, it made no sense to Moishe. Stansfield went on, "It's a clear night. We can read our positions from the stars and move at need. But dawn will be coming before too long-now that we're further south, night ends earlier than it would in British waters-and I'm not keen on being spotted around here."

"No. I understand this," Moishe said. "Can you sail back to Gibraltar all under the sea?"

"We'll use the diesels to charge the batteries," the Royal Navy man answered. After a moment, Russie realized that wasn't a fully responsive reply. The Seanymph Seanymph had sailed into danger to take him and his family where they were supposed to go. had sailed into danger to take him and his family where they were supposed to go.

Stansfield was getting out the s.e.xtant when a sailor came down from the conning tower and said, "Sir, we've spotted a s.h.i.+p maybe half a mile to port. No sign she knows we're anywhere about. Is that the one we want?"

"It's not likely to be anybody else," Stansfield said. "And if it happens to be, he won't go telling tales out of school. We'll make certain of that." Moishe hadn't heard the idiom before, and needed a moment to figure out what it meant. Yes, Stansfield was a military man-he talked with complete equanimity of killing people.

The Seanymph Seanymph glided quietly toward the waiting s.h.i.+p. Moishe wished he could go up on deck to help, but realized he would be as much underfoot there as Reuven was down below. He hated waiting for others to decide his fate. That had happened too often in his life, and here it was again. glided quietly toward the waiting s.h.i.+p. Moishe wished he could go up on deck to help, but realized he would be as much underfoot there as Reuven was down below. He hated waiting for others to decide his fate. That had happened too often in his life, and here it was again.

Shoes clattered on the rungs of the iron ladder that led up to the conning tower. "Captain's compliments, sir, ma'am," a sailor said, "and please to get your things and come along with me." He actually said fings fings and and wiv, wiv, but that didn't bother Moishe, who had trouble with the but that didn't bother Moishe, who had trouble with the th th sound himself. He and Rivka grabbed their meager bundles of belongings and, shooing Reuven ahead of them, climbed up to the top of the conning tower. sound himself. He and Rivka grabbed their meager bundles of belongings and, shooing Reuven ahead of them, climbed up to the top of the conning tower.

Moishe peered out into the darkness. A tramp steamer bobbed alongside the Seanymph. Seanymph. Even in the darkness, even to Moishe's inexperienced eye, it looked old and dingy and battered. Commander Stansfield came over and pointed. "There she is," he said. "That's the Even in the darkness, even to Moishe's inexperienced eye, it looked old and dingy and battered. Commander Stansfield came over and pointed. "There she is," he said. "That's the Naxos. Naxos. She'll take you the rest of the way to the Holy Land. Good luck to you." He held out a hand. Moishe shook it She'll take you the rest of the way to the Holy Land. Good luck to you." He held out a hand. Moishe shook it With a rattling of chains, the Naxos Naxos lowered a boat. Moishe helped his wife and son into it, then put in what they'd brought with them, and last of all climbed in himself. One of the sailors at the oars said something in a language he didn't understand. To his amazement, Reuven answered in what sounded like the same language. The sailor leaned forward in surprise, then threw back his head and shouted loud laughter. lowered a boat. Moishe helped his wife and son into it, then put in what they'd brought with them, and last of all climbed in himself. One of the sailors at the oars said something in a language he didn't understand. To his amazement, Reuven answered in what sounded like the same language. The sailor leaned forward in surprise, then threw back his head and shouted loud laughter.

"What language are you speaking? Where did you learn it?" Moishe asked his son in Yiddish.

"What do you mean, what language?" Reuven answered, also in Yiddish. "He uses the same words the Stephanopoulos twins did, so I used some of those words, too. I liked playing with them, even if they were goyim goyim."

To Rivka, Moishe said, "He learned Greek." He sounded almost accusing. Then he started to laugh. "I wonder if the Stephanopoulos boys speak Yiddish and surprise their mother."

"They were using some of my words, too, Papa," Reuven said. "It's all right, isn't it?" He seemed anxious, perhaps afraid he'd revealed too much to his friends. In the ghetto, you quickly learned giving yourself away was dangerous.

"It's all right," Moishe a.s.sured him. "It's better than all right, in fact I'm proud of you for learning." He scratched his head. "I just hope you won't be the only one who can talk with these sailors."

When they got up onto the Naxos' Naxos' deck, the captain tried several languages with Moishe before discovering they had German in common. "Panagiotis Mavrogordato, that's me," he said, thumping his chest with a theatrical gesture. "They're your enemies, they're my enemies, and we have to use their tongue to talk with each other." He spat on the deck to show what he thought of that. deck, the captain tried several languages with Moishe before discovering they had German in common. "Panagiotis Mavrogordato, that's me," he said, thumping his chest with a theatrical gesture. "They're your enemies, they're my enemies, and we have to use their tongue to talk with each other." He spat on the deck to show what he thought of that.

"Now the Lizards are everyone's enemies," Moishe said. The Greek rubbed his chin, dipped his head in agreement, and spat again.

The Seanymph Seanymph slid beneath the surface of the Mediterranean. That made the slid beneath the surface of the Mediterranean. That made the Naxos Naxos rock slightly in the water. Otherwise, there was no trace the submarine had ever been there. Moishe felt alone and very helpless. He'd trusted the British sailors. Who could say anything about the crew of a rusty Greek freighter? If they wanted to throw him over the side, they could. If they wanted to hand him to the first Lizards they saw, they could do that, too. rock slightly in the water. Otherwise, there was no trace the submarine had ever been there. Moishe felt alone and very helpless. He'd trusted the British sailors. Who could say anything about the crew of a rusty Greek freighter? If they wanted to throw him over the side, they could. If they wanted to hand him to the first Lizards they saw, they could do that, too.

As casually as he could, he asked, "Where do we go from here?"

Mavrogordato started ticking off destinations on his fingers: "Rome, Athens, Tarsus, Haifa. At Haifa, you get off."

"But ... ?" Was Mavrogordato trying to bluff him? "Rome is in the Lizards' hands. Most of Italy is."

"That's why we go there." Mavrogordato mimed licking something from the palm of his hand. "The Lizards there will be mighty gamemeno gamemeno glad to see us, too." glad to see us, too."

Moishe didn't know what gamemeno gamemeno meant. Reuven let out a shocked gasp and then a giggle, which told him what sort of word it was likely to be-not that he hadn't figured that out for himself. Even without the word, he understood what the Greek was talking about. So he was running ginger, was he? In that case, the aliens meant. Reuven let out a shocked gasp and then a giggle, which told him what sort of word it was likely to be-not that he hadn't figured that out for himself. Even without the word, he understood what the Greek was talking about. So he was running ginger, was he? In that case, the aliens would would be glad to see him-and he was less likely to turn over a family of Jews to Lizard officialdom. be glad to see him-and he was less likely to turn over a family of Jews to Lizard officialdom.

Mavrogordato went on, "They give us all kinds of interesting things in exchange for the"-he made that tasting gesture again-"we bring them, yes they do. We would have had a profitable trip already. And when the British paid us to carry you, too-" He bunched his fingertips together and kissed them. Russie had never seen anybody do that before, but he didn't need a dictionary for it, either.

The captain of the Naxos Naxos led them to their cabin. It had one narrow bed for him and Rivka, with a pallet on the floor for Reuven. It was cramped and untidy. Next to the accommodations aboard the led them to their cabin. It had one narrow bed for him and Rivka, with a pallet on the floor for Reuven. It was cramped and untidy. Next to the accommodations aboard the Seanymph Seanymph they'd just left, it seemed like a country estate. they'd just left, it seemed like a country estate.

"Don't turn on the light at night unless you shut the door and pull the blackout curtain over the porthole first," Mavrogordato said. "If you make a mistake about that, we will be very unhappy with you, no matter how much the British paid us for you. Do you understand?" Without waiting for an answer, he squatted and spoke in slow, careful Greek to Reuven.

"Nee, nee," Reuven said-that's what it sounded like to Moishe, anyhow. His son was obviously impatient at being talked down to, and added, Reuven said-that's what it sounded like to Moishe, anyhow. His son was obviously impatient at being talked down to, and added, "Malakas," "Malakas," under his breath. under his breath.

Mavrogordato's eyes went wide. He started to laugh. Getting to his feet in a hurry, he said, "This is a fine boy you have here. He will make a fine man if you can keep from strangling him first. We'll have rolls and bad tea for breakfast in a couple of hours, when the sun rises. Come join us then." With a last dip of his head, he went out of the cabin.

Rivka shut the door and used the blackout curtain. Then she clicked on the light switch. A ceiling bulb in a cage of iron bars lit up the metal cubicle. The cage was much like the ones aboard the Seanymph. Seanymph. The bulb, though, made Moishe squint and his eyes water. It wasn't-it couldn't have been-as bright as Gibraltar suns.h.i.+ne, but it seemed that way. The bulb, though, made Moishe squint and his eyes water. It wasn't-it couldn't have been-as bright as Gibraltar suns.h.i.+ne, but it seemed that way.

Moishe looked around the cabin. It didn't take long. But for rivets and peeling paint and a couple of streaks of rust, there wasn't much to see. In his mind's eye, though, he looked farther ahead. "Halfway there," he said.

"Halfway there," Rivka echoed.

"Mama, Papa, I have to make a pish pish," Reuven said.

Moishe took his hand. "Come on," he said. "We'll find out where you do that here."

Ussmak was dressed in more clothes than he'd ever worn in his life. Back on Home, he hadn't worn anything beyond body paint and belts hung with pouches. That was the way you were supposed to go through life. But if he went out that door as if he were on Home, he'd freeze to death before he ever got to his landcruiser.

He turned an eye turret down toward the large, heavy gloves on his hands. "How are we supposed to do any sort of work on the machine in clumsy things like these?" he complained, not for the first time. "My grip has about as much precision as if I were using my tailstump."

"We have to maintain the landcruiser, no matter how hard it is," Nejas answered. The landcruiser commander was bundled up as thoroughly as Ussmak. "It has to be perfect in every way-no speck of dirt, no slightest roughness in the engine. If the least little thing goes wrong, the Big Uglies will swoop down and kill us before we even know they're around." He paused, then added, "I want a taste of ginger."

"So do I, superior sir," Ussmak said. He knew he'd probably saved Nejas' life by giving him ginger when he was wounded in the invasion of Britain. But ginger fit Nejas' personality only too well. He'd been a perfectionist before; now the least little flaw sent him into a rage. The herb also exaggerated his tendency to worry about everything and anything, especially after he'd been without it for a while.

A lot of males in this Emperor-forsaken frozen Soviet wasteland were like that. But for going on patrol and servicing their land-cruisers, they had nothing to do but sit around in the barracks and watch video reports on how the conquest of Tosev 3 was going. Even when couched in broadcasters' cheerily optimistic phrases, those reports were plenty of incitement for any male in his right mind to worry about anything and everything.

"Superior sir, will this planet be worth having, once the war of conquest is over?" Ussmak asked. "The way things are going now, there won't be much left to conquer."

"Ours is not to question those who set strategy. Ours is to obey and carry out the strategy they set," Nejas answered; like any proper male of the Race, he was as good a subordinate as a commander.

Maybe it was all the ginger Ussmak had tasted, maybe all the crewmales he'd seen killed, maybe just his sense that the Race's broadcasters hadn't the slightest clue about what the war they were describing was really like. Whatever it was, he didn't feel like a proper male any more. He said, "Meaning no disrespect to the fleetlord and those who advise him, superior sir, but too much of what they've tried just hasn't worked. Look what happened to us in Britain. Look at the poisonous gas and the atomic bombs the Big Uglies are using against us."

s...o...b..was also climbing into the gear a male needed to survive in Siberia, the gear that turned quick death into prolonged discomfort. The gunner spoke in reproving tones: "The leaders know better than we what needs doing to finish the conquest of Tosev 3. Isn't that right, superior sir?" He turned confidently to Nejas.

s...o...b..had come through the British campaign unwounded; he'd also managed to keep from sticking his tongue in the powdered ginger, though he turned his eye turrets the other way when his crewmales tasted. But for that toleration, though, he still seemed as innocent of the wiles of the Tosevites as all the males of the Race had been when the s.h.i.+ps of the conquest fleet first came to Tosev 3. In a way, Ussmak envied him that. He himself had changed, and change for the Race was always unsettling, disorienting.

Nejas had changed, too-not as much as Ussmak, but he'd changed. With a hissing sigh, he said, "Gunner, sometimes I wonder what is in the fleetlord's mind. I obey-but I wonder."

s...o...b..looked at him as if he'd betrayed their base to the Russkis. He sought solace in work: "Well, superior sir, let's make sure the landcruiser is in proper running order. If it lets us down, we won't be able to obey our superiors ever again."

"Truth," Nejas said. "I don't want to quarrel with you or upset you, s...o...b.. but I don't want to lie to you, either. You'd think I was talking out of a video screen if I tried it." He didn't think much of the relentless good news that kept coming from the fighting fronts either, then.

Trying to keep the landcruiser operational was a never-ending nightmare. It would have been a nightmare even had Ussmak himself been warm. Frozen water in all varieties got in between road wheels and tracks and cha.s.sis and cemented them to one another. The intense cold made some metals brittle. It also made lubricants less than enthusiastic about doing their proper job. Engine wear had been heavy since the landcruiser was airlifted here, and spare parts were in constantly short supply.

As he thawed out the cupola lid so it would open and close, Ussmak said, "Good thing we have those captured machine tools to make some of our own spares. If it weren't for that and for cannibalizing our wrecks, we'd never keep enough machines in action."

"Truth," s...o...b..said from back at the engine compartment So Ussmak thought, at any rate. The howling wind blew the gunner's words away.

Ussmak took tiny, cautious sips of air. Even breathed through several thicknesses of cloth, it still burned his lungs. Little crystals of ice formed on the mask. His eyes, almost the only exposed part of him, kept trying to freeze open. He blinked and blinked and blinked, fighting to keep them working.

"Good enough," Nejas said some endless time later. "What we really need is a flamethrower under the cha.s.sis of the landcruiser. Then we could melt the ice that freezes us to the ground in a hurry."

The crew started back toward the barracks. Ussmak said, "I've been talking with some of the males who've been here a long time. They say this is bad, but local spring is a hundred times worse. All the frozen water melts-by the way they make that sound, it happens in the course of a day or two, but I don't think that can be right-and whatever was on top of the ground sinks down into the mud. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can get it out again."

"You served in the SSSR before, didn't you?" Nejas said. "Did you see any of that for yourself?"

"I saw the mud in local fall, before I was hurt," Ussmak answered. "That was bad. It just comes from rain falling on the ground, though. From all I've heard, the mud that comes in spring, when a winter's worth of frozen water melts, is a lot worse."

He looked around at the white expanse through which they slogged. A lot of the drifts were higher than a male was tall. Winter had a long way to go, too; all of Tosev 3's seasons were twice as long as those of Home in any case, and here in Siberia winter seemed to rule most of the local year.

His sigh turned the air around him smoky. Softly, he said, "I hope we last long enough to see how bad the local mud is."

Rance Auerbach stared out across the snowy east-Colorado prairie. He didn't see anything much, which suited him fine. He wanted to be off fighting the Lizards, not making like an MP. What he wanted and the orders he got weren't the same beast.

He wasn't the only one on whom those orders grated, either. Lieutenant Magruder rode up to him and asked, "Who is this guy we're supposed to be looking for again? Waste of time, if you ask me-not that anybody did."

"Fellow's name is Larssen, says Colonel Nordenskold." Auerbach laughed. "One squarehead telling us to go find another one. The colonel got word from General Groves that this Larssen plugged two guys and then headed east. They don't want him to make it into Lizard country."

"Why do they give a d.a.m.n? That's what I want to know, and n.o.body's told me yet," Magruder said. "If he's a b.a.s.t.a.r.d and he's heading toward the Lizards, why shouldn't we let him be their headache?"

"Colonel Nordenskold told you just as much as he told me," Auerbach answered, "so I don't know, either." He could make some guesses, though. He'd led the cavalry detachment that had escorted Groves-who'd been a colonel then-all the way from the East Coast to Denver. He didn't know for certain what Groves had carried in that heavy, heavy pack of his, but he suspected. The explosions in Chicago and Miami hadn't done anything to make him think he was wrong, either.

If Groves wanted this Larssen stopped, it was probably because Larssen had something to do with those explosions. If he made it through to the Lizards, who could say what would happen next? The likeliest thing Auerbach could think of was Denver going up in a flash of light If that happened, the U.S.A.'s chance to beat the Lizards would probably go up with it.

If, if, if... All of it was guesswork, and he knew as much. All the same, that wasn't why he kept quiet about it. The fewer people who knew about heavy-duty bombs, the less chance word about them had of reaching the Lizards. Other speculations he would have shared with Magruder, but not these. He wished he hadn't been in the position to make these particular guesses himself.

Magruder changed the subject: "He's going to get past us on a bicycle bicycle?" He patted his horse's neck. The animal whickered softly.

"He's supposed to be good at roughing it," Auerbach answered. "Maybe he'll ditch the bike and try it on foot. This is a big country, and we're spread thin. He might slip through. h.e.l.l, Bill, he might already have slipped through. And the other thing of it is, he might not be within a hundred miles of here. No way to know."

"No way to know," Magruder echoed. "So here we are, out beating the bushes for this one guy instead of doing something to twist the Lizards' little scaly tails. That's a h.e.l.l of a thing. He must be one really important so-and-so if they want him caught so bad."

"Does sound that way," Auerbach agreed. He felt Magruder's eyes on him, but pretended he didn't. His lieutenant might not know as much as he did, but wasn't bad at piecing things together.

Auerbach peered south from US 40. Somewhere a couple of miles down there was the little town of Boyero. A squad was going through there now. The rest of his men were strung out along the dirt road that led from Boyero to the highway, and north of US 40 toward Arriba on US 24. Farther north, troopers from Burlington took over for his company. One lone man shouldn't have been able to slip through that net, but, as he'd told Magruder, it was a big country, and they were spread thin.

"One thing," Magruder said, perhaps trying to look on the bright side: "It's not like he's going to be able to fool us by making like he's somebody else. There's n.o.body else on the road to pretend to be."

"You're right about that," Auerbach said. "Country like this, there wouldn't have been a lot going on even before the Lizards came. Now there's nothing."

Behind heavy clouds, the sun slid toward the distant-and now obscured-Rockies. Auerbach wondered if Larssen had the guts to move at night. He wouldn't have wanted to try it, not on a bicycle. Maybe on foot... but, while that upped your chances of slipping through, it also slowed your travel and left you running the risk of being far from cover when day found you.

A rider came pounding down the dirt road toward US 40. Auerbach spotted blond hair around the edges of the helmet and nodded to himself-Rachel Hines was the most recognizable trooper in his command.

She reined in, saluted, and said, "Sir, Smitty and me, we think we seen somebody heading our way across the fields, but as soon as whoever it was spotted us, he went to ground. He couldn't hardly think we were Lizards, so-"

"So he must have thought we were looking for him," Auerbach finished. Excitement tingled through him. He hadn't expected to run across Larssen, but now that he had, he was ready to run him down. "I'm with you," he said. "We'll pick up every other soldier on the way to where you and Smitty were at-that way, in case this turns out not to be Larssen, we won't give him a free road east." He turned to Magruder. "Bill, you stay here and ride herd on things. If we run into trouble, send more men after us."

"Yes, sir," Magruder said resignedly. "Why did I know you were going to tell me that?"

"Because you're smart. Come on, Rachel." With knees and reins, he urged his horse up into a fast trot. Rachel Hines had galloped to give him the news, but stayed with him now. Every few hundred yards, they'd gather up another trooper. By the time they got back to where Smitty was waiting, they headed up a squad's worth of men.

"We're gonna get the guy, eh, Captain?" Rachel said. Auerbach heard something of the eagerness he felt in her voice. "Don't quite know why we want him, but we're gonna get him."

"Yeah, reckon we are." Auerbach heard the question in Rachel's voice, but if he wouldn't give out his guesses for Magruder, he wouldn't do it for her, either. He turned to the troopers he'd brought in his wake. "Isbell, you and Evers hold horses. If we get in trouble out there, one of you ride like h.e.l.l back to the highway and tell Lieutenant Magruder to get reinforcements up here." The men he'd designated both nodded. He peered out over the prairie. He saw no signs anybody was out there, but Larssen was supposed to know what he was doing. "Okay, let's spread out and get him. Be on your toes. He's got a gun and he uses it."

Before she separated from the rest, Rachel Hines said, "Thanks for not making me stay back with the critters, Captain."

Auerbach realized he hadn't even thought of that. He'd accepted her as a soldier like any other. He shook his head. Would he have imagined such a thing before the war? Never in a million years.

He strode across the chilly ground. These had probably been wheatfields before the Lizards came, but they didn't look to have been harvested the last couple of years. Even after the winter die-off, a lot of the brush was waist high. Bushes had taken root here and there among the grain, too. The country looked pretty flat, but it gave better cover than you'd think. The grain and bushes also broke up the snow on the ground, making it harder to spot somebody's tracks.

If Larssen was smart, he'd just sit tight wherever he was and hope they'd miss him-if he was really here. But being that smart wasn't easy-and if Auerbach turned the whole company loose on this stretch of ground, anybody hiding would get found.

He didn't want to do that, in case he was wrong. Pulling in a raft of men would leave a hole in the screen the Army had set up to keep the fugitive from slipping east "Larssen!" Auerbach shouted. "Come out with your hands up and n.o.body'll get hurt. Make it easy on yourself." Make it easy on us, too. Make it easy on us, too.

Larssen didn't come out. Auerbach hadn't expected that he would. He took another couple of steps toward where Rachel and Smitty had seen whoever it was take cover. A bullet cracked past his ear. An instant later, he heard the sound of the gunshot. He was already throwing himself flat.

"Down!" he yelled from behind a tumbleweed. He looked around, but dead plants didn't let him see far. He shouted orders: "Spread out to right and left and take him." Now they knew where Larssen was. Getting him out wouldn't be any fun, but it was something they knew how to do, tactics that came almost as automatically as breathing.

Larssen fired again, not at Auerbach this time. "You're all against me," he shouted, his voice thin in the distance. "I paid back two. I'll pay back the rest of you sons of b.i.t.c.hes if it's the last thing I ever do."